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BarbaraChrist

Areas of Expertise

Plant Pathology

Fungal genetics

Plant Breeding

Education

B.S., Plant Science, Penn State University

M.S., Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota

Ph.D., Botany, University of British Columbia

From November 2012 to October 2014, Christ was interim dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, responsible for leading the college’s nine academic departments and an extension program that reaches into every Pennsylvania county to deliver University programs. With 1,077 employees, 3,000 undergraduate students and 460 graduate students, the College of Agricultural Sciences also invests nearly $97 million in research and graduate study yearly.

Christ was named senior associate dean in 2009 after serving four years as head of the Department of Plant Pathology. She has been a member of the college faculty for 28 years and has broad experience as a researcher with a focus on potato breeding and disease management. She joined the plant pathology faculty as an assistant professor in 1984, became associate professor in 1990 and attained the rank of full professor in 2000. She previously worked as a research assistant in the plant pathology department of the University of Minnesota and has served as president of the American Phytopathological Society.

Areas of Interest

Program Interests

My research is focused on potatoes including breeding and disease management, which covers adapted research to provide information to growers as well as research into basic understanding of inheritance of disease resistance.

Objective 1: Develop and screen potato breeding lines to develop and release new varieties adapted for Pennsylvania growing conditions.We have co-released ten potato cultivars and collaborated in the release of three other cultivars. We have also assisted breeders in identifying germplasm to be used as parents in future crosses. The germplasm is evaluated for yield, adaptability to specific environmental conditions, disease resistance, processing traits such as suitability for chipping and French-frying, and culinary traits such as baking and boiling. We continue to release new cultivars that are suitable for Pennsylvania production.

Objective 2: Develop disease-resistant potato germplasm.We have developed methods and field plot designs to minimize inter-plot interference, enhance disease development and reliably evaluate germplasm for disease resistance. This has led to collaborative research on diploid potato populations that carry high levels of resistance to numerous diseases. I, in collaboration with Dr. Haynes, have determined that one diploid population has high heritability for late and early blight resistance and that there may be some resistance genes in common. We have expanded the disease resistance research with the addition of several other populations and now are examining powdery scab, common scab and Fusarium tuber rot resistance.

We have shifted efforts to include using molecular techniques to locate the resistance genes. We have developed a framework map of our diploid population using markers (RFLP, AFLP, SSR, and resistance gene probes) to determine where the resistance genes are located and then, using marker-based selection, to accumulate the genes into one genetic background.

Objective 3: Examine the genetic variability within potato pathogen populations and understand the biology of these organisms.Another goal is to document the entire life cycle of the powdery scab organism and develop methods to detect this organism. Very little is known about this organism. Our research focuses on basic epidemiological studies to determine the environmental conditions conducive to disease development. We are also characterizing the disease reaction in hopes of developing disease resistant cultivars. Little is known about alternative hosts. We have developed a detection technique to quantify inoculum and/or identify disease on alternative hosts. There are no adequate control measures for this disease, and disease resistance may be the only alternative.

We are also examining genetic variation in Alternaria solani populations and more recently we have been examining them for sensitivity to fungicides.

Objective 4: Develop methods to detect and/or forecast potato diseases and develop integrated pest management strategies for potatoes in Pennsylvania.The fourth goal is to develop a comprehensive integrated pest management system for potatoes. We have incorporated a disease-resistance factor into a forecasting scheme to reduce the number of fungicides applied to resistant potato cultivars. We continue to explore novel methods for gathering and disseminating weather data and information on probability of disease occurrence.

Objective 5: Evaluate new fungicides for efficacy toward potato diseases. In response to the potato industry, we have developed a testing program for fungicides to be better able to provide technical information on the best chemicals and how best to utilize them. We have provided the industry with experimental data supporting the section 18 special emergency exemption registration for the use of the fungicides and provided the industry with data to support the EPA approval of new fungicides.